Your body is smart. It constantly has to make decisions and tradeoffs based on priorities. The body will always prioritize keeping you alive today. And thank goodness it does: our body can kick in with adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormones) when it needs to so we can survive. Historically, this would only have happened occasionally for very short periods of time, specifically emergency situations, like being chased by a giant moose. In our modern lifestyle, we are chronically stressed. It may be from high sugar intake, which taxes the adrenals, or food sensitivities, or toxic exposure, or psychological stress from grief. This is where problems start to happen: chronic stress throws off the delicate hormone orchestra. Through a series of pathways, stress inhibits reproductive function.
How to Balance Hormones Naturally with Nutritional Therapy: Part 1
Our hormones are basically little chemical messengers that tell the body what to do. They are a communication system for the body, similar to the nerve impulse messages that move our muscles, but rather than through nerves, the message is sent by the endocrine glands secreting hormones, sending them from one set of cells to another. The balance of our hormones is a very, very delicate orchestra of lots of organs and lots of hormones (over 100 different kinds!), all playing together. A combination of nutrition, lifestyle and environmental factors can throw this delicate balance off, and it can lead to a whole bunch of symptoms.